EDM

With the introduction of tools like EPICS and VSystem, the task of building complex distributed control systems has been greatly simplified. Furthermore, extending both the content and functionality of these systems is a trivial task. This is generally not the case for applications that have been built on top of these core components and in most cases this is acceptable. There is one class of applications, namely interactive graphical display tools, where the lack of user extensibility is a severe liability. This deficiency arrests the growth of the suite of common display elements and prevents the development and customization of site specific elements for special requirements. Just as EPICS record and device support is easily extended without in-depth knowledge of the core software, so also should the elements of a display tool be extensible, again without in-depth knowledge of either the core behavior of the display tool or the more esoteric details of window-based graphical user interface systems.

Edm, one example of an EPICS display manager, is an attempt to fulfill this objective. A display manager is a tool that manages a collection of active displays. It provides the ability to create and edit display content (like graphics, text, meters, sliders, buttons, plots, etc.) and uses some facility (.e.g EPICS channel access) to execute the same content resulting in the dynamic presentation of live data.

Additional examples of display managers for EPICS include the following:

The following is a list of some of the more common edm widgets.

See edm online help topic Objects for more information.

Figure 1.1, “Example edm Widgets” is a screenshot showing several display elements provided by the base widject library.

Figure 1.1. Example edm Widgets

Editing functions include the following:

Motif is required to build edm. OpenMotif has been used on Linux platforms successfully. LessTif is not currently recommended.

Image widgets require the following external libraries:

Both libraries are publically available and can be readily found from most web search engines sites.

The edm distribution is packaged in a tar file with a name like edm-1-12-8.tgz. In this case the name corresponds to major version 1, minor version 12, and release 8.

Place the tar file in the src directory under the EPICS extensions directory. Use gunzip to uncompress the file and then use tar to unpack the archive. Edm should then build like any other EPICS extension.

Unlike most other EPICS extensions, edm requires additional configuration after installation. See chapter 3 before attempting to execute edm.

Example:

The edm color file must be manually created using a text editor. The file name is normally colors.list and the default location is /etc/edm. The location may be overridden on a site-by-site or project-by-project basis with the environment variable EDMFILES. The name and location may be overridden on a site-by-site or project-by-project basis with the environment variable EDMCOLORFILE.

The first line of the color file must contain the color file format version id as three numbers corresponding to major, minor, and release. This should currently be

4 0 0

The next three items in the color file are described as follows:

So, the first few lines of the colors.list file might look like this

4 0 0

blinkms=750
max=0x10000
columns=5

static 25  Controller    { 0 0 65535 }    # blue

# blinking is specified by 2 RGB values
static 26  "blinking red"  { 65535 0 0 41120 0 0 }

rule 100 exampleRule {
 =100 || =200 : strange
 >=20         : invisible
 >0 && <10    : red
 >=10 && <20  : "blinking red"
 default      : green
}

The Color Palette and Functional Name Menu

The color palette shown in Figure 3.1, “Example edm Color Palette” and color name menu in Figure 3.2, “Example edm Color Name Menu” corresponds to the following color file information:

4 0 0

blinkms=750
max=0x10000
columns=5

static 6   white        { 0xffff 0xffff 0xffff }
static 7   black        { 0 0 0 }
static 8   grey1        { 50000 50000 50000 }
static 9   grey2        { 40000 40000 40000 }
static 3   "dark red"   { 0xffff 0 0 }
static 4   "dark green" { 0 0xffff 0 }
static 5   "dark blue"  { 0 0 0xffff }
static 0   red          { 0xffff 0 0 }
static 1   green        { 0 0xffff 0 }
static 2   blue         { 0 0 0xffff }

menumap { 
red
green
blue
"dark red"
"dark green"
"dark blue"
}

Note that there are 5 columns as given by

columns=5

and that the palette is populated from top-left to bottom-right, row by row, according to the entry order of color indices in the color file. So, white is the first specified color in the file and also the first color in the palette. Likewise, blue is last in both places.

Figure 3.1. Example edm Color Palette

The listing order in the color name menu is explicitly given in the menumap section of the color file. This is clear by comparing the menumap content to the menu shown in Figure 3.2, “Example edm Color Name Menu”. Note that some colors have been intentionally omitted from the menu.

Figure 3.2. Example edm Color Name Menu

alias trace0 red
alias trace1 green
alias trace2 blue
alias trace3 "dark red"
alias trace4 "dark green"
alias trace5 "dark blue"
alias trace6 black
alias trace7 white
alias trace8 grey1
alias trace9 grey2
alias trace10 wheat
alias trace11 cornflower
alias trace12 coral
alias trace13 "med orchid"

alarm { 
  disconnected : grey1
  invalid      : grey2
  minor        : blue
  major        : red
  noalarm      : green
}

alarm { 
  disconnected : grey1
  invalid      : grey2
  minor        : blue
  major        : red
  noalarm      : *
}

4 0 0

blinkms=750
max=0x10000
columns=5

alias trace0 red
alias trace1 green
alias trace2 blue
alias trace3 "dark red"
alias trace4 "dark green"
alias trace5 "dark blue"
alias trace6 black
alias trace7 white
alias trace8 grey1
alias trace9 grey2
alias trace10 wheat
alias trace11 cornflower
alias trace12 coral
alias trace13 "med orchid"

static 6   white        { 0xffff 0xffff 0xffff }
static 7   black        { 0 0 0 }
static 8   grey1        { 50000 50000 50000 }
static 9   grey2        { 40000 40000 40000 }
static 3   "dark red"   { 0xafff 0 0 }
static 4   "dark green" { 0 0xafff 0 }
static 5   "dark blue"  { 0 0 0xafff }
static 0   red          { 0xffff 0 0 }
static 1   green        { 0 0xffff 0 }
static 2   blue         { 0 0 0xffff }
static 10  "wheat"      { 55512 55512 49087 }
static 11  "cornflower" { 16962 16962 28527 }
static 12  "coral"      { 65535 46003 13107 }
static 13  "med orchid" { 37779 28784 56283 }
static 14  "blink red"  { 0xffff 0 0 0x3fff 0 0 }
static 15  invisible    { 0 0 0 }

rule 16 rule1 {
 =100 || =200 : grey1
 >=20         : invisible
 >0 && <10    : red
 >=10 && <20  : "blink red"
 default      : green
}

menumap { 
red
green
blue
"dark red"
"dark green"
"dark blue"
rule1
}

alarm { 
  disconnected : grey1
  invalid      : grey2
  minor        : blue
  major        : red
  noalarm      : *
}

The edm font file must be manually created using a text editor. The file name is always fonts.list and the default location is /etc/edm. The location may be overridden on a site-by-site or project-by-project basis with the environment variable EDMFILES. The name and location may be overridden on a site-by-site or project-by-project basis with the environment variable EDMFONTFILE.

All edm fonts must be explicitly specified in the font file.

Example:

5 0 0
helvetica-medium-r-12.0
helvetica-medium-r-18.0

helvetica=-adobe-helvetica-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100=105,120,140,160=150,180,200,240)-75-75-p-*-*-*

  helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-105-75-75-p-*-*-*

  helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-150-75-75-p-*-*-*

Example:

4 0 0
helvetica-medium-r-12.0
helvetica-medium-r-18.0

substitutions {
-adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-160-75-75-p-*-*-*=-adobe-utopia-medium-r-normal--*-160-75-75-p-0-*-*
-adobe-helvetica-medium-o-normal--*-160-75-75-p-*-*-*=-adobe-utopia-medium-i-normal--*-160-75-75-p-0-*-*
-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-160-75-75-p-*-*-*=-adobe-utopia-bold-r-normal--*-160-75-75-p-0-*-*
-adobe-helvetica-bold-o-normal--*-160-75-75-p-*-*-*=-adobe-utopia-bold-i-normal--*-160-75-75-p-0-*-*
}

helvetica=-adobe-helvetica-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120,140,160,180,240)-75-75-p-*-*-* exact

3 0 0

helvetica-medium-r-10.0
helvetica-medium-r-12.0

-*-courier-bold-o-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-bold-o-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-bold-o-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*

courier=-*-courier-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-*-*-*

gothic=-urw-gothic l-(book,demi bold)-(r,o)-normal--0-(80,100,120)-75-75-p-0-*-*

courier=-*-courier-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-*-*-*      preload

courier=-*-courier-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-*-*-*      preload      exact

edm courier font=-*-courier-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-*-*-*

courier=-*-courier-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-*-*-*

courier=-microsoft-courier new-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--0-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-0-*-*

helvetica={
-urw-helvetica-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--0-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-0-*-*      preload
-adobe-helvetica-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-*-*-*    preload
-*-helvetica-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120)-75-75-m-*-*-*        preload
}

1 1 0

helvetica-medium-r-10.0
helvetica-medium-r-12.0

-*-courier-bold-o-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-bold-o-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-bold-o-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*

-*-courier-bold-r-normal--0-90-75-75-m-0-*-*

Scalable Fonts

In general, it is not possible to guarantee that high quality scalable fonts will be used when appropriate. But if the actual family name of the desired scalable font is used in the spec, it obviously will be. Figure 3.3, “Poor Quality Font” shows the rendering on a linux system of a 72 point New Century Schoolbook font specified as

-*-new century schoolbook-bold-r-normal--0-720-75-75-p-0-*-*

Clearly, the font renders, but the quality is poor.

Figure 3.3. Poor Quality Font

In Figure 3.4, “High Quality Font”, when the font is specified as

-urw-new century schoolbook-bold-r-normal--0-720-75-75-p-0-*-*

The nice scalable font is used and the results are much more pleasing.

Figure 3.4. High Quality Font

1 1 0
helvetica-medium-r-10.0
helvetica-medium-r-12.0
-*-courier-bold-o-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-bold-o-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-bold-o-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-bold-o-normal--0-720-75-75-m-0-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-bold-r-normal--0-720-75-75-m-0-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-medium-o-normal--0-720-75-75-m-0-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-m-50-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-*-*
-*-courier-medium-r-normal--0-720-75-75-m-0-*-*
-*-helvetica-bold-o-normal--8-80-75-75-p-50-*-*
-*-helvetica-bold-o-normal--10-100-75-75-p-60-*-*
-*-helvetica-bold-o-normal--12-120-75-75-p-69-*-*
-*-helvetica-bold-o-normal--0-720-75-75-p-0-*-*
-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-p-60-*-*
-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-70-*-*
-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--0-720-75-75-p-0-*-*
-*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--8-80-75-75-p-50-*-*
-*-helvetica-medium-o-normal--10-100-75-75-p-57-*-*
-*-helvetica-medium-o-normal--12-120-75-75-p-67-*-*
-*-helvetica-medium-o-normal--0-720-75-75-p-0-*-*
-*-helvetica-medium-o-normal--8-80-75-75-p-47-*-*
-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-p-56-*-*
-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-67-*-*
-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--0-720-75-75-p-0-*-*
-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-p-46-*-*

3 0 0
helvetica-medium-r-10.0
helvetica-medium-r-12.0
courier=-*-courier-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120,720)-75-75-m-*-*-*
courier=-*-helvetica-(medium,bold)-(r,o)-normal--*-(80,100,120,720)-75-75-p-*-*-*

Printing in edm depends on external utilities like those found in the netpbm distribution (formerly libgr-progs). A print definition file is used to specify template print commands and to relate print options to print dialog box fields.

The following command might be used from a Linux shell to print a window:

The above command could be used in the edm print definition file verbatim. The corresponding directive follows.

The problem with the above example is the lack of options like page size, portrait/landscape, a list of print queues, and so on. Furthermore, the xwd command shown above requires user interaction to select the window to be dumped. The edm print definition file allows options to be specified and related to fields in a print dialog box.

option N = <DIALOG FIELD TYPE> {
  label = "<LABEL STRING>"

  default = <DEFAULT DIALOG FIELD VALUE>

  <OPTION STRING MODIFIERS>

}

option N = menu "item1|item2|item3..." {
  .
  .
  .

  N option [ = | += ] "<OPTION STRING VALUE>"

  e.g. to replace current option with "-noturn"
  0 option = "-noturn"

  to append "-noturn" to the current option
  0 option += "-noturn"

option 2 orientation = menu "Default|Portrait|Landscape" {

  label = "Orientation"

  default = 0

  0 option += ""

  1 option += "-noturn"

  2 option += "-turn"

}

  [ 0 | 1 ] option [ = | += ] "<OPTION STRING VALUE>"

  e.g. to replace current option with "-center"
  0 option = "-center"

  to append "-center" to the current option
  0 option += "-center"

option 2 center = toggle {

  label = "Center"

  default = 1

  0 option += "-nocenter"

  1 option += "-center"

}

  option [ = | += ] "<OPTION STRING VALUE>"

  e.g. to replace current option with "-width " (and the user input)
  option = "-width "

  to append "-width " (and the user input) to the current option
  option += "-width "

option 2 pagewidth = text {

  label = "Page Width"

  default = "8.5"

  option += "-width "

}

Example Print Definition File

Note:

  If the environment variable EDMDEBUGMODE is set to 1,
  the print command will be displayed when a print
  operation is performed.

A complete example edm print definition file is shown below. Figure Figure 3.5, “Example Print Dialog Box” shows the corresponding print dialog box.

printDialog {
  w = 400
  h = 600
}

printCommand = "xwd <opt1> | xwdtopnm | pnmdepth 255 <opt4> | pnmtops <opt2> <opt3> | lpr <opt5>"

printToFileCommand = "xwd <opt1> | xwdtopnm | pnmdepth 255 <opt4> | pnmtops <opt2> <opt3> > <file>"

optionDefaults {
  opt1 = "-display <DSPNAME> "
  opt2 = ""
  opt3 = ""
  opt4 = ""
  opt5 = ""
}

option 2 orientation = menu "Default|Portrait|Landscape" {
  label = "Orientation"
  default = 0
  0 option += ""
  1 option += "-noturn"
  2 option += "-turn"
}

option 2 pagewidth = text {
  label = "Page Width"
  default = "8.5"
  option += "-width "
}

option 2 pageheight = text {
  label = "Page Height"
  default = "11"
  option += "-height "
}

option 3 scale = text {
  label = "Scale Factor"
  default = "1"
  option += "-scale "
}

option 3 center = toggle {
  label = "Center"
  default = 1
  0 option += "-nocenter"
  1 option += "-center"
}

option 3 fit = toggle {
  label = "Fit To Page"
  default = 0
  0 option += ""
  1 option = "-center -scale 1000"
}

option 4 invert = toggle {
  label = "Invert"
  default = 0
  0 option += ""
  1 option += "| pnminvert"
}

option 1 select = menu "Window|Desktop|Interactive" {
  label = "Select"
  default = 0
  0 option += "-silent -id <WINID>"
  1 option += "-silent -root"
  2 option += "-frame"
}

option 5 printer = menu "lp|lp0" {
  label = "Printer"
  default = 0
  0 option = "-P lp"
  1 option = "-P lp0"
}

Figure 3.5. Example Print Dialog Box

edm [-x] [-noedit] [-ro] [-noscrl] [-m <"m1=string1,m2=string2,...">]
    [-display <display name>] [-ctl <control PV name>]
    [-color rgb or index] [-cmap] [-restart] [-server] [-one] [-open]
    [-port <port #>] [-local] [-eolc] [-(v|V|version)] [-(h|help)]
    [<display-file1 display-file2 ...>]

    -x         Open all displays in execute rather than edit mode

    -noedit    Remove capability to put display in edit mode, used
               with -x to produce execute only operation

    -ro        Read-only mode (when the -server option is in use,
               this option affects the primary server only;
               clients inherit this attribute from the server)

    -noscrl    Disable scroll bars

    -m         Introduces list of macros/expansions

                 e.g. -m "facility=beamline-5,section=z,name=`caget -t pvname`"

                 (note that using a script or executable to assign a macro value is
                  an EXPENSIVE synchronous operation and should therefore be used
                  with caution)

    -display   Takes name of X Display

    -ctl       Takes name of string process variable, writing
               a display file name to this string causes edm
               to open the display in execute mode

               Writing "* SHUTDOWN *" to the pv invokes a remote
               shutdown; edm writes its pid back into the same pv

    -color     Set Colormode - index (default) or rgb

    -cmap      Use private colormap if necessary

    -restart   Takes pid number, restart from last shutdown

    -server    Communicate with or become a
               display file server which can
               manage multiple displays

    -one       Like -server but allows only one instance of edm
               per display; all instances must be launched with
               this option and all other options except -display
               should be identical

    -open      Request server to open specified files; macros may
               be set (must come before -open); a server must exist and
               must already be managing the corresponding display otherwise
               the request will be ignored and edm will return an exit
               status of 100.

               Examples:

                 edm -m "sym1=val1,sym2=val2" -open one.edl

                 edm -open one.edl?300?400 two.edl (open one.edl at X=300, Y=400
                 and two.edl at default position)

                 edm -open win1=one.edl win2=two.edl?10?10    (open named windows)

    -close     Request server to close specified window names (as determine by -open)

    -move      Request server to move specified window names (as determine by -open)

    -raise     Request server to raise specified window names (as determine by -open)

    -lower     Request server to lower specified window names (as determine by -open)

    -iconify   Request server to iconify specified window names (as determine by -open)

    -deiconify Request server to deiconify specified window names (as determine by -open)

               All commands to manipulate named windows (except close) may cause a move
               operation to be performed by including X,Y position information in the
               window name.

               Example:

                 edm -raise win1?100?200

    -port #    Use specified TCP/IP port number (default=19000);
               may be used with -server and -one options

    -local     Do not communicate with the display
               file server (default)

    -eolc      Exit on last close; edm exits when last screen is closed

    -version   Displays edm version information and exits
    -v
    -V

    -help      Displays this text and exits
    -h
    -?

COMPONENT MANAGEMENT

edm (-add|-remove|-show) <component library file pathname>

    -add     Add all library components to edmObjects

    -remove  Remove all library components from edmObjects

    -show    Show all components in specified library

               e.g. edm -add /usr/lib/someEdmComponents.so

PV COMPONENT MANAGEMENT

edm (-addpv|-removepv|-showpv) <PV component library file pathname>

    -addpv     Add all library components to edmPvObjects

    -removepv  Remove all library components from edmPvObjects

    -showpv    Show all components in specified library

               e.g. edm -addpv /usr/lib/someEdmPvComponents.so

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

EDMFILES                Location of fonts.list and colors.list
                        (if unset then /etc/edm) if EDMCOLORFILE
                        and EDMFONTFILE are unset

EDMCOLORFILE            Name and location of color file

EDMFONTFILE             Name and location of font file

EDMHELPFILES            Location of edm help displays
                        (if unset then /etc/edm)

EDMOBJECTS              Location of edmObjects, the edm component
                        object file (if unset then /etc/edm)

EDMPVOBJECTS            Location of edmPvObjects, the edm PV component
                        object file
                        (if unset then /etc/edm)

EDMDATAFILES            Location of display files given as

                          <path 1>:<path 2>:...:<path n>
                          e.g. /usr/displays:/usr/more:/usr/yetMore

                          If EDMDATAFILES is not set then default
                          path is ./

EDMSERVERS              Comma separated list of server names

                        <server1>[:merit],<server2>[:merit]...
                        e.g. node1:2,node2:1.5,node3
                        (node1 is preffered 2/1.5, 2/1 over nodes 2 & 3)

EDMTMPFILES             Location of autosave files (default: /tmp)

EDMPRINTDEF             Name of print defintion file; if unset the file
                        edmPrintDef in the directory given by EDMFILES
                        is used. If EDMFILES is unset, the file
                        /etc/edm/edmPrintDef is used.

EDMUSERLIB              Location of user shared library file (future)

EDMCOMMENTS             Path to comment file (see chapter on EDM and CVS).

EDMHTTPDOCROOT          URL list separated by "|".

CALC_ENV                Colon delimited list of CALC pv definition files

EDMPRINTER              Default printer

EDMDUMPFILES            Location for xygraph widget plot file dumps

EDMACTIONS              Location of edmActions file

EDMTEXTBORDERALWAYS     If set, and noalarm is not "*", then always display text alarm borders

EDMMAXVERSIONS          If unset or set to one, edm saves backup version as name.edl~. If set
                        to a value greater than one, edm saves that number of backup versions
                        as name.edl-#. If set to the string "unlimited" number of versions is
                        the maximum value of a 32 bit integer.

EDMUSEPIXMAP            If set, default XWindows output is double buffered (may be overridden via
                        display properties).

If EDMHTTPDOCROOT is set, file access is performed using libcurl and edm must be compiled with the -DUSECURL=1 option. This results in a list of document root locations, each of which are searched to resolve a file reference. All directories given in EDMFILES and EDMUSERFILES are relative to the document root locations.

This gives a locally executed instance of edm read-only access to display files served from a web server. Color files, font files, and png images are also obtained from the server. Gif image files may not be accessed remotely.

The following environment variables are not intended for use during normal operation of edm.

EDMCOLORMODE            Set to rgb or RGB to enable rgb color mode

Help files employ rgb color mode to make display file colors somewhat site independent. When an edl file is written in rbg mode, colors are stored as raw R-G-B values instead of as the usual color indices. When a file written in this mode is opened, colors are chosen from the palette that best match the stored R-G-B values.

EDMSUPERVISORMODE       Set to TRUE to enable supervisor mode

Several widgets employ an optional password protected confirmation mechanism as a prerequisite to performing some operation. This is not secure and serves primarily to remind the user that some operation is not without significant consequences. These widgets also provide a LOCK option that disables all functional widget properties (e.g. what PV will be written, what value will be written) and inhibits further password modification. Once the LOCK option is selected and the file saved, the widget remains locked permanently (of course, one could simply edit the ascii edl file). Setting EDMSUPERVISORMODE to TRUE unconditionally unlocks all such widgets.

EDMIGNOREICONIC         If set, edm ignore the iconic state of a window.

Normally, if a window is iconified, edm updates internal values but does not update the visual contents of a window. There have been several reports of edm windows failing to update until the window is iconified and then maximized again. This variable has been added as a diagnostic aid.

EDMDEBUGMODE            Set to any integer value to enable debug mode
EDMDIAGNOSTICMODE       Set to any integer value to enable diagnostic
                        output to files of the form /tmp/edmDiag_??????
                        and /tmp/edmStdErr_?????? (or, if EDMTMPFILES is
                        defined, $EDMTMPFILES/edmDiag_?????? and
                        $EDMTMPFILES/edmStdErr_??????).

For developer use.

EDMXSYNC                Puts X in sync mode

This is intended for use when testing or debugging edm. X I/O throughput is significantly degraded in this mode.

EDMGENDOC               Generates widget file format information
                        on save

Setting this environment variable makes edm generate widget file format information when a display file is saved. The output is sent to stdout. This gives up-to-date information to those writing display generating scripts and such.

Example output for rectangle widget:

# (Rectangle)
object activeRectangleClass
beginObjectProperties
major <int>
minor <int>
release <int>
x <int>
y <int>
w <int>
h <int>
lineColor (index <int> | rgb <int> <int> <int>)
[lineAlarm [(0|1)]]   /* present with no value = 1, absent = 0 */
[fill [(0|1)]]   /* present with no value = 1, absent = 0 */
fillColor (index <int> | rgb <int> <int> <int>)
[fillAlarm [(0|1)]]   /* present with no value = 1, absent = 0 */
[lineWidth <int>]   /* default = 1 */
[lineStyle ("solid"|"dash")]   /* default = "solid" */
[invisible [(0|1)]]   /* present with no value = 1, absent = 0 */
[alarmPv <expandable string>] /* default = "" */
[visPv <expandable string>] /* default = "" */
[visInvert [(0|1)]]   /* present with no value = 1, absent = 0 */
[visMin <string>] /* default = "" */
[visMax <string>] /* default = "" */
endObjectProperties

Conventions:

\a translates to a
\\ translates to \

So, for example, to specify a local pv, use LOC\\somepv

[a] means a is optional

(a | b) means either "a" or "b"

Arrays are specified as follows:

  a {
    0 1
    1 100
  }

In this case, a is an array of 2 elements, element 0 = 1,
element 1 = 100.

Primitive types are enclosed by "<" and ">". The following means
a takes an integer value.

  a <int>

Primitive types include

  <int>
  <real>
  <string>
  <expandable string> (i.e. macros are allowed)

Strings and expandable strings should be enclosed in double quotes

The following environment variables are site related.

EDMWEBBROWSER           name of executable that invokes web browser

EDMRDDHS                Used by TRIUMF for site-specific initialization
                        in the related display widget

The environment variable EDMFILES determines the location of all related files. If EDMFILES is not set, /etc/edm is used. Color and font configuration and content specifics have been given elsewhere in this document so this section will only discuss display schemes in detail.

Display Schemes

Display schemes determine the default colors and fonts used when creating widgets in a given display. The display scheme consists of the cosmetic properties shown in the display property dialog box which may be obtained by middle-clicking on a edm display (while in edit mode) and selecting Display Properties from the menu. Figure 5.1, “Display Schemes” shows this property box and correlates the various color names with their respective uses in a slider widget.

Figure 5.1. Display Schemes

When a new edm display file is created, the display scheme information is populated from the file named default.scheme located in $EDMFILES. One task in configuring the project environment is therefore creating this file. This is done as follows:

• Execute edm and create a new display

• Middle-click on the display background and select Display Properties from the menu

• Set the various display scheme properties as desired (Text Fg, 1st Control Fg, 2nd Control Fg, 1st Control Bg, 2nd Control Bg, Top Shadow, Bottom Shadow, Default Text Font, Default Control Font, Default Button Font)

• Press the OK button to close the dialog box

• Middle-click on the display background and select Save Display Scheme... from the menu

• Save the file default.scheme in the appropriate directory (as given by $EDMFILES)

• Exit edm now, don't save the display; when you next start edm the display scheme will be properly set.

front {
  Graphics-activeRectangleClass front-rec
  Controls-activeSliderClass    front-sli
  Controls-activeXTextDspClass  front-te
}
middle {
  Graphics-activeRectangleClass middle-rec
  Controls-activeSliderClass    middle-sli
  Controls-activeXTextDspClass  middle-te
}
back {
  Graphics-activeRectangleClass back-rec
  Controls-activeSliderClass    back-sli
  Controls-activeXTextDspClass  back-te
}

The edm widget component file, edmObjects, resides in the directory given by $EDMOBJECTS or in /etc/edm if the environment variable is not set.

The edm PV component file, edmPvObjects, resides in the directory given by $EDMPVOBJECTS or in /etc/edm if the environment variable is not set. This file supports an obsolete class of generic PV objects and will not be further discussed. A future version of edm will use this file to manage the generic PV objects currently in use.

Edm widgets are distributed as independent component packages. This serves as a quality control device and prevents a new, but perhaps unstable, component from affecting the stability of a previous configuration. The new component may be installed, tested, and subsequently, if a problem arises, uninstalled without any code modification.

As an example, consider the following html component which happens to be packaged separately. The library file name is libHtml.so.

The package contents may be viewed as follows:

edm -show /myPath/libHtml.so

Edm component file is ./edmObjects

Component                                 Menu Type    Menu Text

html                                      Graphics     html

The package may be installed as follows:

edm -add /myPath/libHtml.so

Edm component file is ./edmObjects

Adding component: html, menu type: Graphics, menu text: html

Moving current edm component file to ./edmObjects~

The new component has been successfully added

The package may be uninstalled as follows:

edm -remove /myPath/libHtml.so

Edm component file is ./edmObjects

Removing component: html

Moving current edm component file to ./edmObjects~
Component was successfully removed

Notice than in each command, the library file reference includes an absolute path. This is a strict requirement.

Edm help files reside in the directory given by $EDMHELPFILES or in /etc/edm if the environment variable is not set.

The environment variable EDMDATAFILES is a colon separated list of directories. This list is searched in the given order whenever an edm display file is referenced in a related display widget and also whenever a symbol or graphical image file is refenced in some associated widget.

If the environment variable is not set, the current directory is used as the search path.

Edm tmp files reside in the directory given by $EDMTMPFILES or in /tmp if the environment variable is not set.

Several different PV types are supported by edm widgets. Currently, supported types include EPICS, LOG, CALC, and LOC.

Support for each pv type is specified in the file named edmPvObjects. The default pv type is the one which appears in the file first (not including LOC and CALC).

   CALC\sum(pv1, pv2)

   CALC\diff(pv1, 10.5)

CALC1

# Example definition file for the CALC ProcessVariable
#
# First line "CALC1 ..." is magic and provides version number
# as well as EMACS mode with is not necessary
# but makes for - by definition - cool coloring
# when this file is edited in emacs.
#
# Empty lines and comments like these,
# beginning with '#', are ignored.
#
#
# Next two lines are optional and may appear anywhere in the file
processInvalid
invalidResult=0
#
# The argument to invalidResult may be any numeric value
# e.g. invalidResult=-1
#
# processInvalid is case insensitive, if present a calc pv returns the
# value of invalidResult if any of its arguments are invalid
#
# invalidResult is case insensitive and defaults to 0.0, i.e. if processInvalid
# is present but invalidResult is not then invalidResult is taken to be 0.0
#
# Syntax for the rest of the file:
#
# <name>
# <implementation>
#
# The name is used to refer to a CALC PV as "CALC\name"
# or "CALC\name(argA, argB, argC, ...).
#
# Implementation is in EPICS CALC record syntax,
# with A, B, C, ... being variable names for the arguments.
#
#
# Note: arguments are not checked!
# If e.g. CALC\sum(a,b) requires two arguments,
# nonone cares if you provide 0, 2 or 5 arguments instead of 2.

# Example: CALC\sum(x, y) adds the arguments
sum
# Implementation:
A+B

# Example: CALC\diff(x, y) subtracts the arguments
diff
# Implementation:
A-B

   CALC\{A+B}(pv1, pv2)

   CALC\{A-B}(pv1, 10.5)

  # CALC\valid(x, y) returns value if valid else -1
  valid
  # Implementation:
  B==0?A:-1

  CALC\valid(pv1,pv1.SEVR)

  # CALC\valid(x) returns value if valid else -1
  valid
  # The next line generates two arguments from one
  @$(A),$(A).SEVR
  # Implementation:
  B==0?A:-1

  CALC\valid(pv1)

  dev1:vReading
  dev1:iReading
  dev1:tempReading

  dev2:vReading
  dev2:iReading
  dev2:tempReading

  CALC\deviceState(dev1:vReading,dev1:iReading,dev1:tempReading)

  CALC\deviceState(dev2:vReading,dev2:iReading,dev2:tempReading)

  CALC\deviceState(dev1)

  CALC\deviceState(dev2)

See edm online help topic File Operations for more information.

See edm online help topic Mouse Operations for more information.

Various operations may be performed on edm displays and widgets from menus that are called up by middle-clicking on the display background. Three different menus are available depending on whether one, many, or no widgets are currently selected.

To set display attributes, make sure no widgets are selected and then middle-click on an edm display background. Select the Display Properties menu item.

Attributes include size and position, window title, the display scheme (colors and fonts), and several edit mode parameters (grip,snap...).

Note that some edit mode parameters are listed with a pair of shortcut key labels in parentheses [e.g. Show Grid (G/g)]. The shortcut keys set (uppercase) and clear (lowercase) the corresponding attribute when the attributes dialog is not open.

The ID, Activate Callback, and Deactivate Callback attributes are not currently used.

See edm online help topic Creating Objects for more information.

Objects (rectangles, meters, buttons, etc.) are created by left-dragging a box on an edm display window background. The initial size of the object is determined by the size of the box and when the left button is released, a menu pops up listing available object types (graphics, monitors, controls). Selecting a type calls up a sub-menu enumerating all available objects for the selected type. Selecting an object closes the menu and calls up an object property dialog box. After the object attributes are specified and the OK button pressed, the dialog is closed and the object is created.

See edm online help topic Editing Objects for more information.

Left-clicking on a selected object calls up the object property dialog box. New users often associate this operation with a double-click. Avoid this temptation. Although it is true that two successive left clicks will result in an edit operation, the clicks must be separated by some amount of delay. Object properties may be modified as desired. Pressing the Apply button applies all modifications without closing the dialog box. Pressing OK applies modifications and closes the dialog. Pressing Cancel closes the dialog without applying modifications.

The functions performed by the OK, Apply, and Cancel buttons may also be achieved by double clicking the left, center, and right mouse buttons respectively. This may, at times, eliminate excessive mouse pointer movement.

If multiple objects are selected, clicking on one of them opens the first property dialog box. When the OK button is pressed, the property box for the next item is opened, an so on, until each selected object has been processed. The edit operation is terminated when all objects have been visited or the Cancel button is pressed.

See edm online help topic Line Objects for more information.

Lines are created by left-dragging a box on an edm display window background and choosing Lines from the Graphics sub-menu. Doing this calls up the line object property dialog box. After the object attributes are specified and the OK button pressed, the dialog is closed and the cursor changes slightly. At this point, the following operations may be performed.

See edm online help topic Line Objects for more information.

Clicking on a lone selected line object calls up a menu which provides the option to edit line properties or line segments. If the properties option is selected, editing proceeds in the same manner as that for any edm object. If the segments option is selected, the object property dialog is not called up, instead, the line is redrawn with control points around each segment end-point and all line create operations may be performed. The edit operation is terminated in a manner similar to the create operation, i.e. with a Shift Left B click or a Left B double-click. In addition, a Shift Right B click aborts all modifications and terminates the edit.

See edm online help topic Aligning Objects for more information.

When two or more objects are selected, various object alignment operations may be performed by middle-clicking on the display window background and selecting the desired operation from a menu. The following operations are possible:

Align Left, Right, Top, Bottom

Center Vertical, Horizontal, Both

Size Height, Width, Height & Width

Distribute Vertical, Horizontal, Midpoint Vertical, Midpoint Horizontal, 2D

Other operations that may be performed from the display window menus are listed below.

Execute

Save

Save As...

Save To Current Path

Select All

Copy

Cut

Paste

Paste in Place

Close

Open...

Load Display Scheme...

Save Display Scheme...

Edit Outliers

Find Main Window

Refresh

Help

Raise

Lower

Group

Ungroup

Rotate Clockwise

Rotate Counterclockwise

Flip Horizontally

Flip Vertically

Edit Display Info

Edit PV Names

Deselect

For version 1-12-9 and above, any display file may be used as a template that can be inserted into another display being edited. During the insert operation, the user is prompted to enter the value of various template paramters if any have been defined.

To create a template, create a display as you would normally. Widget attributes that allow macro substitution are candidates for becoming template parameters. Say, for example, that you create a template display with one analog control, one analog readback, one binary control, and one binary readback. These might be named $(devicePv):Control, $(devicePv):Readback, $(devicePv):OnOffControl, and $(devicePv):OnOffReadback. Obviously, in this example, devicePv is a reasonable choice for a template parameter. To make it so, open the display properties dialog and click on the Template Params button at the bottom. This opens another dialog into which you may enter a number of template parameters. For this example, one parameter would be entered using the value devicePv. After entering the parameter values, the display may be saved in some appropriate template directory.

To use the template during an edit session, choose "Insert File As Template..." from the context menu of the display window (no widgets may be selected). A file select dialog opens (using the current path value) from which the template display file may be selected. After selection, if template parameters have been defined, a dialog opens into which template parameter values are entered. When the dialog is closed by clicking OK, the template display file contents are inserted into the current display window with the corresponding substitution of parameter values.

It is possible to run edm on a local cpu (e.g. from home) and access edl files and some configuration files remotely (e.g. at work) from a web server. If the associated EPICS PVs are accessible through a channel access gateway, edm may be employed to monitor/troubleshoot a live production system from a remote location.

This has been implemented in rather simple-minded manner to accommodate a single user running edm from home in a technical support activity. If more than one user is using the same local cpu to run edm in this manner, each must set the environment variable EDMTMPFILES to a unique value.

When edm access a file remotely, it merely writes a file with the same name in the current temporary-file directory. For version 1-12-26 and greater, these temporary files are used as remote access cache. Cache expiration defaults to 5 seconds and may be altered by setting the environment variable EDMEXPIRECACHE.

For the bash shell:

  export EDMEXPIRECACHE=1

sets the cache expiration to 1 second.

  export EDMEXPIRECACHE=DISABLE

disables the cache which may be necessary if a screen references files with the same name from different directories.

You may control the permissions of temporary files using the environment variable EDMTMPUMASK.

==========================================================

BY DEFAULT EDM DOES NOT HAVE REMOTE FILE ACCESS CAPABILITY.

==========================================================

To verify the capability of a particular build instance, set the environment variable EDMDEBUGMODE to 1 and run edm. If remote file access is turned on the following will be displayed on stdout

Using curl for URL-based access

If not, you will see

Using local access only

To turn on remote file access, you must edit Makefile.Host in $EPICS_EXTENSIONS/src/edm/lib. In addition, curl must be installed on the build host and libcurl.so must be accessible.

For a linux build, add "-DUSECURL" to the line starting with

  USR_CXXFLAGS_Linux +=

and add "curl" to the line starting with

  USR_LIBS_Linux =

for example, change

  USR_CXXFLAGS_Linux += -Wall -D__linux__ -D_BSD_SOURCE \
  -DSINGLE_THREADED=1 -D__epics__=1

  USR_LIBS_Linux = Xm Xt Xp Xtst X11 pthread dl

to

  USR_CXXFLAGS_Linux += -Wall -DUSECURL -D__linux__ -D_BSD_SOURCE \
  -DSINGLE_THREADED=1 -D__epics__=1

  USR_LIBS_Linux = Xm Xt Xp Xtst X11 pthread dl curl

After making this change, cd back to $EPICS_EXTENSIONS/src/edm and do

make clean

make

There are two ways to access remote files. The first is the most simple and makes it possible to add a remote location to the normal search paths. The second replaces the entire file access environment and facilitates the case where edm is being run from home, for example, to perform remote diagnostic activities.

  /top/one

  /top/two

  http://remoteNode/remoteTop/one

The files colors.list and fonts.list accessible via web server from
http://www.webserver.com/files/

Several edl files accessible via web server from
http://www.webserver.com/edlFiles/

Help files accessible via web server from
http://www.webserver.com/helpFiles/

Local edm print definition file is /edm/edmPrintDef

Local collection of .edl files in /edm/localEdlFiles

export EDMHTTPDOCROOT="http://www.webserver.com|file:///"

export EDMFILES=/files

export EDMDATAFILES=/edlFiles:/edm/localEdlFiles

export EDMHELPFILES=/helpFiles

export EDMPRINTDEF=/edm/edmPrintDef

1) http://www.webserver.com/edlFiles

2) /edlFiles

3) http://www.webserver.com/edm/localEdlFiles

4) /edm/localEdlFiles

  file:///

export EDMHTTPDOCROOT="http://web1.com|http://web2.com|http://web3.com"

In version 1-10-0p of edm, an input file filter mechanism was added which enables edm to read foreign display files. Configuration of this facility involves the following steps:

The edmFilters file may contain multiple entries, one per line for each file extension type. Comment and blank lines are not currently allowed.

One entry in edmFilters contains the foreign file extension and the conversion command with its arguments. The input file name is given as the symbol %f which is replaced by the actual name at run-time.

Example:

.adl adl2edl -rgb %f
.xml xml2edl %f

In the preceeding, both adl2edl and xml2edl are assumed to reside within the execution path.

The executable must accept the input file name on the command line and must send its output to stdout. Error messages should be written to stderr or to a file.

Actions are related processes that are executed from edm. Parameters such as the pv name and display name may be passed to the process as command line arguments.

Moving the mouse over an edm widget and clicking the ctrl-middle button brings up an action menu. Selecting a menu item causes that action to be performed.

To enable this facility, do the following:

Actions are specified one per line in the form action-name action-command.

White space is not allowed in action-name; action-command may contain any amount of whitespace.

Example contents:

Probe probe -display $(display) $(pv)
StripTool /scripts/runStripTool $(pv) $(display)

-------------------------------------------------

runStripTool script:

#!/bin/bash

uuid="`uuidgen`"
f="/tmp/$uuid"
echo "StripConfig 1.2" > $f
echo "Strip.Time.Timespan 300" >> $f
echo "Strip.Time.NumSamples 7200" >> $f
echo "Strip.Time.SampleInterval 1.000000" >> $f
echo "Strip.Time.RefreshInterval 1.000000" >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Background 65535 65535 65535 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Foreground 0 0 0 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Grid 49087 49087 49087 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color1 0 0 65535 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color2 27499 36494 8995 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color3 42405 10794 10794 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color4 24415 40606 41120 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color5 65535 42405 0 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color6 41120 8224 61680 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color7 65535 0 0 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color8 65535 55255 0 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color9 48316 36751 36751 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Color.Color10 39578 52685 12850 " >> $f
echo "Strip.Option.GridXon 1" >> $f
echo "Strip.Option.GridYon 1" >> $f
echo "Strip.Option.AxisYcolorStat 1" >> $f
echo "Strip.Option.GraphLineWidth 2" >> $f
echo "Strip.Curve.0.Name ${1}" >> $f
echo "Strip.Curve.0.Min `caget -t ${1}.LOPR`" >> $f
echo "Strip.Curve.0.Max `caget -t ${1}.HOPR`" >> $f
echo "Strip.Curve.0.Scale 0" >> $f
echo "Strip.Curve.0.PlotStatus 1" >> $f

StripTool $f

rm $f

The ability to log EPICS PV writes from edm widgets is avalaible in version 1-11-1o and above. Two procedures are given below to illustrate how logging may be enabled. When enabled, edm writes information to a pipe on each EPICS put. For a local connection, this produces something like

user="sinclair" host="edmhost" dsp=":0.0" name="sinclairHost:ao0"...
... old="0.000000" new="1.000000"

For a remote ssh connection (remote host 192.168.1.1, local host is 192.168.1.2)

user="sinclair" host="edmhost" ssh="::ffff:192.168.1.1 39719 ::ffff:192.168.1.2 22"...
... dsp=":10.0" name="sinclairHost:ao0" old="0.000000" new="1.000000"

You must write an application that reads stdin, parses the above information, and writes to your log (file, db, etc.). During development/debugging, you may use cat or tee.